Josh Hamilton apologizes while others side with coach

Josh Hamilton's stinging criticism of his third-base coach might have been an honest reaction, but it is one that has provoked furious debate in baseball.

Was Dave Anderson wrong to send Hamilton home Tuesday on a foul popup that resulted in the defending AL MVP sustaining broken right arm? And was Hamilton wrong to blame Anderson for the "stupid" play that will cause him to miss two months?

"As soon as I saw that come across my TV screen," San Francisco Giants third base coach Tim Flannery said, "I knew somehow, some way, somebody would start second-guessing him. I just didn't think it would have been the guy running.

"It's just one more part of coaching third base, people are going to second-guess you no matter what. You're in the heat of the moment. If he slides, and is safe, Josh Hamilton gets all of the credit. They start calling Josh Hamilton the greatest base runner of all time. You're out, and everybody blames Dave Anderson, who's a great third-base coach.

"I don't know Josh Hamilton, but I'm just blown away that he would second-guess like that."

On Wednesday morning, Hamilton stood by his critical comments of Anderson, saying "What do you want me to do, lie about it? People are going to blame who they want to blame."

But later in the day he said he apologized to Anderson. "I see where I need to take responsibility for it," Hamilton said. "I was just frustrated more so for getting injured."

Hamilton, who slid head-first on the play, said he will continue to play aggressively. He has been on the DL 11 times in his professional career.

"He broke the cardinal rule in baseball," said Washington Nationals special assistant Bob Schaefer, who has spent 45 years in baseball, "you don't dive into home-plate. You see all of these guy do it. Well, they deserve to get hurt. Learn to slide the right way. You dive into home plate, it's like jumping off a roof. You can screw up your neck, your head, break your hand or break your shoulder.

"For him to blame his third-base coach is weak. It wasn't stupid to send him. It was stupid to dive into home."

Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken said: "This play was only 'stupid,' because it ended in an injury. … All this fits within the Ranger philosophy of running aggressively on the bases and putting pressure on the defense. … You cannot turn this on and off. You either believe in it and practice it every day, or you play another way."

It would be different, Flannery said, if Hamilton was a pitcher.

"Our pitching staff is a big commodity," Flannery said, "so I try not to let my pitchers slide. But those guys are pitchers. Josh Hamilton is a tough, tough baseball player.

"Come on, did Pete Rose blame somebody for running Ray Fosse over?"

Maybe Joey Amalfitano, who coached third base for more than 30 years — including 13 years with the Dodgers — had the best idea. "I said the next time I was going to tap the guy on the shoulder," Amalfitano said, "and tell him, 'You're making $20 million. I'm making $100,000. You make the decision.'"

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